Benefits, salaries and contracts can all be comforts to people who are looking for work and careers, and it can often benefit the company to have permanent staff members as well. That being said, if you wanted to contract some freelancers who could work as and when you have specific jobs available, you give way to a much more flexible rhythm—both for you and for those you work with. In order to lean neatly into this new rhythm, though, you need to understand the difference of working with freelancers compared to how you are with your in-house team.
What You Provide/What They Provide
This distinction between what comes under the banner of your business and what doesn’t in terms of your employees can make the logistics of work slightly more difficult.
For some businesses, the distinction between those they have on the payroll and those they hire in a freelance capacity will be largely superficial. In practicality, the work conducted might be pretty similar, with small differences like freelance operators perhaps using their own remote working space. However, when it comes to working on a site, as with construction, what are you providing and what should the workers bring with them? Do you offer the right equipment? It might be that you expect workers to bring suitable clothing, but when it comes to machinery or tools for sustainable concrete production, providing that yourself will ensure that your projects continue to fall within your guidelines.
Communication and Pay
The nature of payment is slightly more complicated with freelance workers due to the gap between you and them, ultimately meaning that they have to invoice you for the work they do. When you have employees who work for you in-house, any potential issues with payment or their struggles within the workplace are often resolved through HR. While this might be much the same for those working freelance, it’s important that they understand this.
It’s easy for people working freelance to feel as though they’re entirely external to the business they’re working with, and this means that conflicts can be more difficult to resolve. Being communicative and clear about where they can go with certain issues they might have can help to create a positive dynamic between you from the outset, potentially mitigating any issues before they have the chance to begin.
Contractors and Classification
When it comes to businesses like construction, you might find that a lot of the people you work with actually come under the banner of contractors. At first, this might seem like a minor semantic correction, but if it’s a distinction that can lead to practical differences, you need to know what these are so you’re following their legal rights to the letter.
The primary difference, as you might discover, is that contractors are often enlisted again and again by the same employer, whereas those who work freelance might be more inclined to handle their own variety of work, with your business simply being one avenue among many.
